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Broadband? Ethernet? Network? Some help...! (1 Viewer)

Ushabye

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Mar 31, 1999
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197
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Dublin, Ireland.
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Paul
Finally afordable broadband has come to my city, Dublin -Ireland, and will be available in a couple of weeks. Plus at the same time I've just picked up a laptop. So now I have a home PC (W98, P3 500mhz), a laptop (WXP,Celeron 1.5ghz) and a new ASDL broadband connection all to hook up.

I want to use my PC for the ASDL hook up and then be able to connected my laptop & PC to swop files. The broadband suppliers, my local telephone company Eircom, offer an ASDL modem or an ETHERNET modem (I only have a 56K in my PC). Would the Ethernet modem be suitable for my PC not only to take the ASDL connection but for hooking my laptop up aswell? My laptop does have a LAN port.

So basically can I connected my laptop from the LAN port to the PC ETHERNET modem and swop files? Or will I have to buy a seperate network card to achive this?

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated, thanks!
 

Tekara

Supporting Actor
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Jan 8, 2003
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783
Real Name
Robert
ethernet and lan tend to be used interchangably nowadays. if you want to hook your laptop up to the internet through the modem, you might want to look into a router.

a router acts like a single computer that will interface with your isp and allows for many computers to be hooked up to it. the router will relay information in packets to the appropriate computer. this method would sitll require you to get a ethernet card for your computer. but the plus side of this is that you can easily attach you laptop to the router and share files between your two computers and the laptop will have internet access.

next option is getting the ethernet card for your computer and then buying a "crossover" cable that will connect between the laptop and the main computer. this route is the cheapest and easier to do. but your laptop won't have internet access through this method.

hope that helps you out some
 

Scott L

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Feb 29, 2000
Messages
4,457
Here's the ideal solution for your setup:

- Wireless Router with local ports
- Network Interface Card (NIC) for your PC
- 2 CAT5 cables to connect Modem --> Router --> PC
- Wireless PCMCIA card for your laptop

Doing this you'll be able to take your laptop throughout your house without any wires while surfing the net and swapping files. Just think, looking up tvguide.com in front of your tube, chatting about the Emmy's real-time; talk about nerd paradise. :D:emoji_thumbsup:
 

John_Berger

Senior HTF Member
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Nov 1, 2001
Messages
2,489
As had been mentioned, GET A ROUTER! There are too many people looking to break into your system and far too many @$&%#! Microsoft-based worms out there (as any firewall would report on a daily basis). If you don't get a router then you deserve to be hacked as far as I'm concerned.

offer an ASDL modem or an ETHERNET modem
This makes no sense. Are you confusing an Ethernet modem with a USB modem, perhaps?
 

Rob Gillespie

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 17, 1998
Messages
3,632
Paul, you can get combined DSL Modem/Routers which will do what you're after very easily. The advantage to using one is that the DSL connection is handled by the modem/router rather than one of your PCs, so you'll be able to access the web on any of your PCs independently. You'll also then have nice little local network where all your machines can talk to each other with the added benefit of being behind NAT protection (so your machine IP addresses aren't visible on the web).

You'll need an ethernet PCMCIA card for your laptop and a regular network interface card for any desktops.

A good combined router/modem is the Netgear DG814. I've had mine for almost a year and been very happy with it. It's currently around £120.
 

Andrew Pratt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 8, 1998
Messages
3,806
A good combined router/modem is the Netgear DG814. I've had mine for almost a year and been very happy with it. It's currently around £120.
Is that router really that much in the UK? Is available here with the mail in rebate for about £30
 

Ushabye

Projectionist
Joined
Mar 31, 1999
Messages
197
Location
Dublin, Ireland.
Real Name
Paul
So If I got the following:

Wireless ADSL Modem/Router (with local ports)
Wireless Network PCMCIA card for laptop
Network PCMCIA card for the PC

My knowledge of this end of computers is limited. I would be able to hook all this up without much problem, but would there be a lot of fiddling around to "tune in" all the settings or would it be reasonably straight forward?

A combined ADSL Router/Modem is about $230 in my neck of the woods.
 

Rob Gillespie

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 17, 1998
Messages
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It's fairly straight forward Paul, though you will need to pick up some basic networking knowledge (can't be a bad thing).

Easiest way to do it (once you have the hardware installed) is to make both machines a member of the same workgroup. You then set up 'shares' of the drives/folders you want to access across the network, set up user accounts if necessary and you're off.
 

Ushabye

Projectionist
Joined
Mar 31, 1999
Messages
197
Location
Dublin, Ireland.
Real Name
Paul
I've just read a dodgy review of the Netgear Wireless Modem/Router, which says its a great Modem & Router but the wireless sucks. If you live in a brick built house with copper pipes and radiators the wireless aspect is pretty much nullified to a max of 10 meters.

I guess I'll drop the wireless idea and go for your recommendation of the Netgear DG814 standard router/Modem, Rob.
 

Rob Gillespie

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 17, 1998
Messages
3,632
There's a couple of people I work with using wireless and they've had similar problems. It's not something I ever looked into myself, mainly because it's slower than cabled.
 

Andrew Pratt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 8, 1998
Messages
3,806
I'd rather see you go with seperates as well...like with HT seperates it gives you more flexibility wrt upgrading etc
 

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